For mounting a semiconductor component, such as a chip comprising integrated circuitry, on an external substrate, such as a circuit board, it is a well-known technique to bond the semiconductor component to the external substrate by means of projecting electrodes on an internal substrate of the semiconductor component. The projecting electrodes often take the form of bumps. Note that the internal substrate of the semiconductor component will hereinafter be referred to in short as “substrate” while the external substrate will always be referred to as the “external substrate” without abbreviation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,589 addresses the problem of mechanical stress between a bump and the substrate of the semiconductor component, on which the projecting electrode is arranged. In order to avoid cracking, a bump front end facing the substrate is provided with a rugged surface before fixing it to the substrate by means of a conductive adhesive. This way, a contact surface area is increased, which in turn shall increase the adhesion strength for improving the reliability of the electrical and mechanical connection. However, a stronger mechanical connection between the bump and the substrate only increases the threshold of mechanical stress that is tolerable.